Scientists studying stroke patients are reporting that an injury to a specificpart of the brain, near the ear, can instantly and permanently break a smokinghabit, effectively erasing the most stubborn of addictions. People with theinjury who stopped smoking found that their bodies, as one man put it, “forgotthe urge to smoke.”

Well, I don't know if I'm really suggesting it - but I can see visions of kungfu masters demonstrating the anti-smoking chop. "Hit him right here.. and when he wakes up, he won't want to smoke anymore!"

Monday, January 22, 2007

Liang Court has got competition for the Japanese dollar! SoHo @ Central is starting to open its doors...

Well, I'm not sure that's the name of the place. It's labelled Central on the wall above Clarke Quay MRT, it's called SoHo@Central on Streetdirectory.com (and is scheduled to open in 2013), and websearches don't seem to show a place.

But anyway, it commands a beautiful view above Clarke Quay and seems to have a fantastic assortment of restaurants coming up, including Waraku and Sun with Moon (of the Tofu Cheesecake...

How beautiful a view? Well, this is the view from Dining@Kopitiam, the food court.

Hm. wonderful, innit? Well, I don't think I've mentioned before how much I like Waraku. It's yet another Jap place that's pretty good and at the same time affordable. At about $15 for a basic meal and $25 inclusive of dessert, it's mid-range. And both the Marina Square branch and the SoHo@Central branch offer a good ambience, though the service standard at the SoHo branch still needs to pick up.

Of course, the other important thing is that the portions are plentiful and the meat (pork katsu don in this case) is nicely fatty and delicious.

Friday, January 19, 2007

Every day teachers are blamed for what the system they’re just a part ofdoesn’t provide: safe, adequately staffed schools with the highest expectationsfor all students.

She's referring to the movies - all those movies about inspirational teachers in schools of the urban poor - and the aspirations they generate:

Every year young people enter the teaching profession hoping to emulate theteachers they’ve seen in films... It’s no surprise that half the teachers inpoor urban schools, like Erin Gruwell herself, quit within five years.

Wonder if I can get my brother to read this - not to discourage him from teaching, but to stop him from joining the quitting half...

Friday, January 12, 2007

Superdog is a new franchise I think, with its first Singapore branch in VivoCity. The premise seems to be (based on the name) built around the hotdog.. I'm not entirely sure, since they have a Superburger as well.

Anyway, I ordered a hot dog:

As with this review, I found the sausage so-so only. It was totally ordinary, I think I would have preferred just to eat a standard Cold Storage pop-it-in-the-microwave cheese sausage, without the bun!

As for price, it was just about comparable with other fast food, with a discount coupon which we picked up at the escalator. Though Keying was super attentive and kind and shared our coupons with the next person in the queue, I remarked to her later that in future, if there were no coupons I'd probably not eat here at all! Price reminds me of A&W, come to think of it.

Overall, forgettable experience. It only makes me think of my beloved In-N-Out back in California, sigh...